Dresden FIles Burning Alpha
We had the bleeding alpha on the Dresden Files RPG; that got us lots of good feedback, showed us the stress-cracks in the system we suspected were there, and put us on a revision-path. That's hit a speedbump or two, in that Lenny's computer fried in the middle of it and he's still recovering, but we're getting closer on that front -- close enough that it's time to start inviting our selected pool of playtesters to be a part of the second round of alpha testing.
I decided to call this (with apologies to Luke) the "Burning Alpha". Where the first alpha round was all about seeing the sausage get made, and engaging with things as a full-contact bloodsport with no expectation of success or failure either way, this second alpha is about treading over some of the same stuff post-revision, applying the heat, and hopefully baking the system into a stable form that will allow us to proceed on text completion and then our beta-testing round yet to come.
Like the bleeding alpha, the burning alpha consisted of sending invites to somewhere around 30 different groups, and relied somewhat on familiarity with Spirit of the Century in case we have any conceptual gaps we haven't filled yet. Further down the road, with the beta testing round or rounds, we'll have no such criterion. Which should be at least marginally good news to the multi-hundreds of folks who have an application in for playtesting. (Sifting through the 600+ apps that live in the not-SOTC-familiar folder will be a real treat too when that time comes, I bet.)
Anyway, I'm in the middile of doing some of the aforementioned revisions, but I wanted to pop my head up and let folks know that this particular ball was rolling.
I decided to call this (with apologies to Luke) the "Burning Alpha". Where the first alpha round was all about seeing the sausage get made, and engaging with things as a full-contact bloodsport with no expectation of success or failure either way, this second alpha is about treading over some of the same stuff post-revision, applying the heat, and hopefully baking the system into a stable form that will allow us to proceed on text completion and then our beta-testing round yet to come.
Like the bleeding alpha, the burning alpha consisted of sending invites to somewhere around 30 different groups, and relied somewhat on familiarity with Spirit of the Century in case we have any conceptual gaps we haven't filled yet. Further down the road, with the beta testing round or rounds, we'll have no such criterion. Which should be at least marginally good news to the multi-hundreds of folks who have an application in for playtesting. (Sifting through the 600+ apps that live in the not-SOTC-familiar folder will be a real treat too when that time comes, I bet.)
Anyway, I'm in the middile of doing some of the aforementioned revisions, but I wanted to pop my head up and let folks know that this particular ball was rolling.